Players
by VinEsquire
Summary: Very loosely inspired by Hunger Games. In a futuristic world where robots can do virtually anything a human being can do, what would be left for humans to do? Let me know if you feel this isn't fanfic and should be at FictionPress instead. Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

Written: April 7, 2012

Players - Chapter One

* * *

December 12, 2012

Vincent Zeh looked out of his office window. He could see a full moon rising.

"Jeez, already," he said to himself. He was working a little late again this December night. He looked at his watch. 6:50 p.m. He started closing out all of his programs on his desktop computer and packed his leather messenger bag. He grabbed a report he thought he might look over at home. Maybe. He then got up and pulled the bag's strap over his shoulder.

He shut off his lights, walked out of his office, and headed out of the firm's main door. The receptionist had already left for the day. Many of the other lights throughout the floor were already dimmed. The cleaning staff had started emptying the trash baskets.

"Good night, Mr. Zeh," said one of the security guards as he walked out of his building.

"Good night," he replied.

It only took him a few minutes to walk home. Some of his friends joked that Vincent's vertical commute was probably farther than his horizontal commute. They might be right. Since his firm was on the 68th floor of the city's tallest skyscraper, and he lived only one and a half blocks from where he worked, it was very possible indeed.

* * *

"Why doesn't daddy have to drink it?" asked Sophia Zeh, in the typical way a four year old would ask why the world was so unfair.

"Daddy _does_ have to drink it," stated Carissa Longworth-Zeh, matter-of-factly.

"You little rat," said Vincent, making a face at one of his daughters. Although Vincent was about to turn thirty-two years old, everyone knew he behaved like a seven year old; especially around his kids.

Vincent and Carissa had three adorable children. They were triplets; two girls and one boy. The two girls were identical twins with each other, while fraternal triplet with their brother.

Vincent then held up his glass of think gooey green paste so his children could see, and then chugged it all down in one continuous gulp, lasting about 10 seconds.

"Yum yum," he said. His kids laughed.

"Drink it slowly," insisted their mother. She didn't want them to choke.

Vincent then chased it down with a little bit of Mountain Dew. His wife smacked him lightly on the back side of his head.

"What?"

"You just neutralized the entire shake."

Vincent smiled.

"Well, if you made the shakes taste better. Maybe put more sugar in it," he said.

"Do you know how toxic sugar is for you?" Carissa started to lecture.

Vincent rolled his eyes. Jeezus. This again.

"Soda please?" begged his son Lucas.

"Sorry, you're not allowed," said Vincent, feeling a little bit sympathetic.

"Whyyyyy?" Lucas asked.

"Because it will mess with your growth," said Vincent. "You're still little. When you grow taller, you can drink soda."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Vincent felt a little bad, so he went over to the sink and poured out the rest of his can of Mountain Dew. He poured himself some spring water.

Vincent and Carissa were the most opposite pairing anyone had ever met. Carissa was a bit of a health nut, and Vincent, well, he was whatever the opposite of a health nut would be. Though, they managed to compromise. Carissa would serve healthy vegetable/grass shakes only two out days out of the week. The rest of the days, would be filled with healthy, but more typical children's drinks like milk or orange juice. Sometimes apple juice. Soda was a once-in-a-while thing for the kids. Only for birthday parties and maybe Thanksgiving.

After their dinner, the kids went into the family room to play. The married couple stood at the twin sinks to deal with the dishes. Carissa was always on wash duty.

"We have a dishwasher," Vincent used to say.

"Yea, but it's never as good," replied Carissa.

Vincent never knew what Carissa was talking about. The dishwasher was plenty effective. But he relented, and every night, they washed the dishes. At first, he let her deal with the dishes all by herself. She could have washed them and then place them in the drying rack. But she never just let the dishes dry themselves off. It would leave streaks. Or something. He watched as she washed a dish, and then dried it with a towel. Then went to wash another dish, and then dried it. One day, he stood next to her and had her pass the wet dishes to him and he dried them with a towel. It would save her some time, he guessed. Anyway, he discovered that he liked standing next to her, even if it was doing something mundane.

After the dishes, the married couple went and played with their kids a little. Sometimes they would watch a cartoon on tv, but tonight, they played a board game. After the game, the kids had their baths, and then were tucked into bed.

* * *

The alarm sounded. Vincent woke up. It always amazed him how his wife could wake up without the help of an alarm. Then again, he sometimes woke up without an alarm too. But it was too spotty. He could do it maybe half the days of the week at most.

This morning, Carissa had woken up a little extra early to dye her hair. Carissa was the only natural blonde that Vincent ever met who would dye her hair darker.

"It helps the students and other professors take me more seriously," she once explained.

Carissa Longworth-Zeh was an assistant professor of mathematics at a nearby elite university. She was still fighting for tenure, but enjoyed her job a lot. Vincent used to tease her and call her a professor of "mathemagics."

At breakfast, he was greeted with yet another green gooey shake.

"Again?" he said. "We just had this yesterday."

"It's leftover," said Carissa.

"I knew I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning," he said.

"Was it because you hoping to stay in bed with a beautiful lady?" she asked.

"Something like that."

He wrapped her arms around her waist as she was dropping juice boxes into the triplet's lunch bags.

Vincent stared at his healthy morning shake. It was only a third of a glass, and he chugged the thing down. He then drank half a glass of apple juice.

He sat down with his kids at the breakfast table.

"Daddy, what do you do at work?" asked his youngest triplet, Maria.

"Boring stuff," he said.

"I want to be like you when I grow up," said Maria. She was playing with a small toy airplane.

"No you don't," he said. "You want to do something fun. Like hunt dinosaurs!" As he said that, he brought his hands up like the claws of a T-Rex and then started clawing at Maria.

Maria giggled.

"Everyone knows dinosaurs aren't real, daddy!"

Vincent wasn't sure what to make of that. Of course, dinosaurs don't exist in modern times. But at one point, they were real. Or so the scientists keep saying.

Although his kids were only four years old, they had considered what they would want to be when they grew up. Vincent didn't expect them to stick to their ideas, of course. This month, his son Lucas wanted to be an astronaut. His daughter Sophia wanted to be a police officer. And his daughter Maria apparently wanted to be "just like him."

Carissa had encouraged their kids to work hard in pre-school. They recently started to learn to read and work with numbers. Soon, they would be getting homework. Homework for four year olds. What has this world come to?

Vincent was the polar opposite. He encouraged his kids to play.

"Use your imagination and have fun," he often said. "Having fun is the most important thing you can do."

One time, Sophia had said she wanted to be a scientist when she grew up.

"Forget about all that stuff," said Vincent. "Math and science will all be done by robots when you guys grow up. Robots! You guys need to play, and play well. Play a musical instrument. Play a sport. Act in a play. Do things that will entertain people. It'll make them happy and it'll make you happy."

Carissa pinched Vincent's arm. Hard.

"Oww!"

"Don't listen to your daddy, kids," said Carissa. "School is very important."

"Hey, I didn't tell them to do bad in school."

After hanging out with his children for a brief 10 minutes, Vincent got up from the breakfast table and walked over to his wife.

"I'm gonna run. Have an enjoyable day, carebear."

He got up slightly on his tiptoes, balanced on the balls of feet, and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. When barefoot, Carissa was only about half an inch taller than Vincent. But now, she was in heels and she was at least 3 inches taller than him.

"You too, bunny."

His kids giggled at what their mom called their dad. It was a new nickname. Vincent didn't seem to mind it.

"Be good, kids," he said.

"Bye daddy!" the three of them said in unison.

* * *

Vincent arrived at his office promptly at 9 o'clock. He wasn't the type to come in early. He settled down at his desk and read through the several e-mails he received overnight or early morning. He also wasn't the type to answer e-mails on his iPad while with his kids at breakfast. To his immediate superior's half satisfaction, Vincent at least checked his e-mail once before he went to bed.

Although his office wasn't that big, there was enough space for a small refrigerator. Most of his colleagues kept beer or some type of alcohol in their mini-fridge. Not Vincent. He didn't drink much. From one of his cabinets, he brought out a small plastic bowl and a box of cereal. As he was about to pour the cereal into the bowl, an old friend from law school walked by and knocked on his open door.

"Breakfast of champions?" asked Jarett Gronski. Jarett was an associate at Franklin Rome, one of the large corporate law firms in town. His office was several floors above Vincent's and the firm took up 4 floors. Vincent worked for a small-sized boutique which took up only half a floor. He liked his firm.

"They're magically delicious!" said Vincent as he shook his box of Lucky Charms. He loved that cereal since he was a child. The cereal was really just marshmallows for breakfast. He then brought out some milk from his fridge and doused it onto the cereal he just poured into the bowl.

"Organic soy milk with Lucky Charms. That's an interesting contrast," said Jarett. "Does Carissa know you sneak in some treats at the office?"

"Oh, she knows," said Vincent. "Anyway, I promised her I'd only eat this stuff twice a week. It balances out my vegetable goo."

Jarett laughed. "I can't believe she still makes that for you."

Vincent shrugged as he put a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"I also can't believe you aren't an obese and lethargic human being."

Vincent shrugged again. For someone who ate and drank so much sugar, he was actually quite skinny. It was almost scary. He figured it was part genetics, and part because he drank so much water throughout the day.

After he swallowed his mouthful of cereal, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and turned his attention back to his friend.

"So what brings you to the good ol' 68th floor?" Vincent asked.

"Deposition. This will be a fun one," said Jarett.

"Hmm…."

Jarett was dressed in a sleek gray suit, with a nice-looking tie. But then again, he was dressed up every day. His firm required it. So it wasn't easy to tell whether he was meeting with a client that day, or just dressed up as a matter of course. Vincent, on the other hand, almost never wore a suit. He liked to wear nice dress shirts, and maybe a tie once in a blue moon, but that was it. He hated suits. Though, he had two suits in his office in case of emergencies.

"Gotta run," said Jarett. "Enjoy your breakfast."

"Hey let's do lunch sometime," said Vincent. He looked down at his desk and started whipping through his calendar. "I'm free all of next week except Wednesday."

"I'll have my secretary call you," said Jarett. "I think I can do Tuesday."

"Cool," said Vincent. "I'll pencil that in. When you confirm, I'll ballpoint it. You know you're important when I ballpoint you in." It had been a few months since they last had lunch together.

"Important people get magic markers," joked Jarett.

"It would bleed onto the next page!" said Vincent.

Jarett waved goodbye and started walking toward the larger of the two conference rooms.

* * *

Lunchtime came, and Vincent tried to decide what he would be getting. Probably something with chicken in it. A chicken burrito, perhaps. He had been reviewing engineering documents for the past 3 and a half hours, and his eyes were beginning to protest.

Vincent was a staff attorney at a boutique patent firm. His firm's main office was in Silicon Valley, but since his branch was out in a slightly less expensive city, some of the work was farmed out to his branch to keep costs lower. He was well aware of all the geeks and their inventions. The computers were just getting so damn smart. While he was usually an optimistic and happy-go-lucky person, part of him worried about his kids. How would they compete with robots that could do almost anything?

He often thought about robots. But just then, he thought about his wife's new nickname for him. Bunny. He chuckled. A few months ago, his wife was typing out a text to one of her friends, who often referred to Vincent as "Vinny." When his wife texted her friend, she called him that too just to keep the names in sync. After Carissa sent her text, she noticed that her phone auto-corrected her text and replaced Vinny with "bunny." Because the b key and the u key were next to the v key and the i key, the computer in the phone had presumed there was a typing error. Maybe computers weren't that smart after all. In reality, the computers would probably get better at such things.

* * *

September 22, 2013

"Soccer?" asked Vincent. "On top of the music lessons?"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted them to play stuff," said Carissa.

She had handed Vincent a couple of brochures about little soccer camps for five year olds.

"But their lives are already so… busy," said Vincent. He was worried that his children would be overloaded. They recently started introductory piano and violin lessons, and took Chinese language classes on Saturdays.

"It's only once a week," said Carissa. "And anyway, they want to do it."

Vincent was tempted to un-enroll his kids from the music lessons. After all, they still had tiny hands. They weren't fit to play the piano.

To his surprise, Vincent's children loved their Chinese classes. Maybe they'd change their minds when things actually got tough though. For now, they were learning to write the simplest characters. They treated it as drawing class. Sometimes, when they were with their Grandma Lorrie, they would point out to random characters they recognized as she was reading a Chinese newspaper.

"That means fire!"

"That means sky!"

Lorrie, Vincent's mother, always encouraged her grandkids. They would soon be able to read more Chinese than her own sons! Though, she never corrected her grandkids. Maybe when they were older. It was too complicated to understand, because while they were right about the individual characters, the words sometimes shifted meaning when in compound words. When the two Chinese characters for "fire" and "car" came together, it meant train. Sometimes the character that meant sky was used to mean day, as in the Chinese phrase for every day read like every sky. She remembered that her own sons took a while to figure these things out.

* * *

December 12, 2018

"But that's not fair," said Sophia. Maria and Lucas nodded in agreement.

"We like different things," insisted Maria.

Vincent looked at his kids. Ten years old. Wow, time flies. The four of them were at a Toys 'R Us, looking through the video game section. Thus far, Vincent and Carissa had deprived their kids of the advanced video gaming systems. Only the educational systems that involved reading and math. But he finally relented, and decided to buy the family the newest Nintendo game system. Part of it was because he wanted a gaming system too. And he figured playing games together with his kids would help them bond. He couldn't play hide and seek with them forever.

"You know, maybe you guys just won't get any Christmas presents at all this year," Vincent bluffed. "We're not even Christians."

His kids were horrified.

"But… but…" said Lucas. "You were named after a saaiint!"

Vincent chuckled. Before they walked into the giant toy store, Vincent had told his kids that he would get the game system, but only one video game. He wouldn't get a second video game until they completed the first one. In truth, he wasn't sure he would do that, but he always liked to set expectations low and then beat them. This way, he could get them a game for Christmas and their birthday, and then they'd be thrilled with the two games. He remembered that one of his younger brother's friends experienced the "no other games before you complete the first one" rule when she was very young. She learned every facet and hidden level of her first game. It was funny and sad at the same time.

"Okay, okay," relented Vincent. "You guys get to pick one game each. But this counts also as presents from your Uncle Wit and Aunt Angie."

"Yay!" they shouted and started to browse the game selection.

Vincent picked up a Nintendo WiiSphere 3000. He wondered what the 3000 meant. It must mean something. Or else, why not 5000? Or 10,000? The new gaming technology was quite different from when he was a child. No more hand controllers. There were sensors that sensed what each person's hands and body were doing. Vincent had always been impressed by these technologies. He feared the robots, but he loved his entertainment systems.

His three children picked their games pretty quickly, as if they had already planned such an option. They probably did. Lucas picked a cartoon character football game. It featured Disney characters which were drafted into various positions like quarterback or linebacker. Ironically, Lucas wasn't considered the "athletic one" out of the triplets. The athletic one was Sophia. She picked a kart racing game, featuring various legacy Nintendo characters. Of course, Mario was the star. Maria picked the adventure game, also starring "Super" Mario. What made him so super?

* * *

"The kids said you fed them chicken McNuggets for lunch," said Carissa. Vincent could tell she wasn't too happy.

"I bought them what they asked for. They fed it to themselves."

"You are a horrible father," said Carissa.

"I _am_ a horrible father," said Vincent. His kids hadn't had fast food for months. It wouldn't kill them. "If it helps, they got milk instead of soda; and apple slices instead of the fries."

It helped a little. Not much.

"Chocolate milk?" asked Carissa.

"Is there another type of milk?" joked Vincent.

She stared at him for a second.

"Two percent," he answered.

For the longest time, Vincent never understood what two percent meant. On one of his earlier dates with Carissa, a waitress had asked him if he wanted 2% milk.

"Can I get 100% milk please?" asked Vincent.

The waitress had laughed. She knew to give him regular milk. Eventually, Vincent's default milk was the reduced fat 2%. It turns out regular milk was probably just 3 or 4 percent anyway.

"Anyway, how is everything in the magical world of math?" asked Vincent as he changed the subject.

"We're all being destroyed by robots," joked Carissa.

"I knew it!" responded Vincent.

The two of them could go from bickering to joking around at the drop of a hat. It was one of the couple's more endearing qualities. Of course, going the other way was also just as sudden sometimes.

* * *

December 28, 2018

Vincent watched his children plug the video game system into the flat screen tv.

Maria was the first one to get to chose what the family played. She picked the racing game.

"Bamboozled," thought Vincent. Those little devils. She just picked "Sophia's" game. While he knew that each of his kids had different preferences, he should have known that they were all similar enough to like the same thing. If he had gotten them only one game, they all would have been fine with it. But he was okay. It was probably the right thing to do to get three games.

Vincent sat down with his triplets and the four of them picked different racing karts. With one lap left to go, Vincent was in the lead by half a kart. He slowed down a tiny bit, and Maria edged him out by a bumper and won the race.

"You let me win, daddy!" she said. She was happy and unhappy at the same time.

"Nuh-uh," said Vincent. "You won fair and square."

His wife was nearby. She watched her family while she was grading the papers of her freshman class. They were okay. But she was a little alarmed by the fact that a good portion of her class missed an exam question that was basically an exact duplicate of a practice question she gave earlier. Kids these days.

In between races, Vincent walked up and grabbed his wife.

"Come, come," he insisted. "Just one race."

Usually, she would not be interested in such nonsense. She was a no-nonsense type person! But she wanted a break from grading. And she wanted to play with her kids. She hoped they wouldn't be too addicted to the WiiSphere. Vincent brought her over to the couch and she sat on his lap. Before wrapping his arms around her waist, Vincent picked a pink kart for her.

"Why? Because I'm a girl?" she asked.

"That's exactly right," he said.

After three and a half laps of the five lap race, Carissa was trailing badly. However, she found herself having fun. At least, she did after she got used to controlling her kart, which took the first lap to figure out fully.

"You're pretty bad, mom," teased Lucas. He was in the lead at this point.

"Oh yea?" said Vincent. He put his hands over his wife's and started to help her control her kart. By the end, she crushed the other three karts by a quarter lap.

"High five, high five," he said to his wife. She shook her head but smiled, and then gave him a high five.

Lucas looked back at his father in disbelief.

"Teamwork makes the dream work," said Vincent.

* * *

November 5, 2019

"The tests came back positive again," said Dr. Fuller.

Vincent and Carissa were sitting on a leather sofa in Fuller's large office. He held her left hand with his right hand. She had tears dripping from her eyes.

Fuller remained silent, and let the couple digest the news.

After a minute, Carissa asked "How much time?"

"We're not sure. This is a new syndrome. Maybe six or seven months," replied Fuller.

This new disease was first discovered 4 years ago but was thought to be relatively contained. It became a full-blown epidemic over the summer. The most at risk populations were children and the elderly.

"Cryogenics is the only solution?" asked Vincent.

"Right now, it appears so," said Fuller. "The guys at CDC and labs all over the world are working on this 24/7."

There was hope that after freezing the patients in stasis, they could be revived after a cure was discovered. Cryo-sleep wasn't without risks. There was a chance the patient would never wake out of it. Vincent and Carissa decided it would be the best option.

* * *

December 1, 2019

The triplets prepared for their deep sleep. They hadn't felt any of the symptoms of the infection yet. They felt strong. Energetic. Capable.

Their parents tried to hide their fear as best as they could.

"Everything will be okay, you'll see," said Vincent. "It's just going to take them a few years to figure this out. But they'll do it."

Vincent and Carissa hugged each of their children, told them they loved them, and kissed them on the top of their heads before each went into the cryogenic chambers. The triplets themselves were more afraid of never again seeing their parents than they were of dying. What would happen if it took the scientists 100 years to figure it out, but eventually they did? The triplets would come out as orphans. They were only eleven years old. They would be lost in an unknown world.

While Vincent had tried to be optimistic and convincing that a cure would be found within years, Carissa wanted to be prepare her children for another possibility. Her last words to her children were "take care of each other." It was understood that she meant that as her goodbye.

* * *

Author's note: Thank you for reading this. If after you have read chapter 2, you feel this story does not belong in fanfic and instead belongs in original fic, please feel free to let me know via messaging or otherwise. If multiple people make that comment, I will remove it to the FictionPress webite for originals. This story was very gray and kind of hard for me to decide. Thanks again!


	2. Chapter 2

Written April 2012

Players – Chapter 2

* * *

Day 3 of the 19th Year, Era of the Re-Awakening

Sophia was the first of the triplets to awaken from their cryogenic slumber. She was greeted almost immediately by a gentle voice. When she opened her eyes, it was clear what she was looking at. It was a robot. While the robot had the typical torso, limbs, and head of a human being, it was gold-plated and shiny.

"Greetings, Ms. Sophia Zeh of the House of Wolf," said the voice. It sounded almost human, but had a slight mechanical edge to it.

Lucas and Maria were revived within a couple of seconds.

"Where are our parents?" asked Maria.

"I am sorry to report to you that your parents no longer exist," said the robot. There wasn't much hint of sorrow in the voice, but that was to be expected.

The triplets knew something like this might happen. Although they tried to prepare themselves for this eventuality, they were still incredibly grief-stricken. The robot let them sit for several minutes to gather themselves.

"Come, children," said the robot in an almost friendly tone. "I will bring you to your guardian."

The three children slowly got up and started to follow the metallic plated robot. They walked past several halls and corridors. At a large reception room, they met another robot. His outfit seemed to match that of a robot in one of their father's favorite childhood television shows. They had watched it with him several times when they were younger. It was now a little bit surreal.

"Hello," said the robot. He resembled a human being a little bit more than the metal plated robot who awakened the triplets from their cryo chambers. While he did not have skin over his metal exterior, it was at least painted in a way to mimic the color of human skin.

The triplets didn't know exactly what to say.

"My name is John," continued the robot. His voice also seemed to mimic a human voice to a higher degree than the other robot.

"Why are you dressed like that?" asked Lucas.

The new robot was dressed in a uniform that was almost a near duplicate to a starship officer android from one of Vincent's favorite childhood tv shows. There was no badge on his chest, but the uniform was clearly from the show.

"It was believed that this uniform might be familiar to you. Having something familiar to you, even if something small, might help you adjust to your new life."

"What year is this?" asked Sophia. "Where are we?"

"Let's get you children home first," replied John. "I'll explain everything over a meal. I bet you guys are hungry."

The three of them were, in fact, hungry. John seemed to lead the way out of the large reception area, and the children followed.

"Where is home?" asked Maria.

"Wolf Manor," said John. "Fifteen miles from here. It will be a short ride."

When the four of them excited the building, another robot greeted them. This one was dressed in an outfit that the children recognized as one resembling a chauffeur. Though, this robot's skin was left metallic. The five of them walked over to some sort of floating vehicle, and the chauffeur robot sent a remote signal which activated two of the vehicle's doors.

The driver stepped through the front doorway as John led the children into the back compartment. It was a very comfortable vehicle. The seats were leather and very soft. The top of the vehicle was entirely glass, and the children looked up into the sky. There were many tall gleaming skyscrapers, and they saw a handful of other vehicles floating along.

Looking out the side windows, the children saw a few other robots on the streets. Almost all of them had been built to resemble the human form. Two legs, two arms, a torso and a head. They saw one robot that was about half as tall, and moved on wheels. It had two very skinny arms on its side, and there didn't seem to be a distinguishable head.

The vehicle started to move, and it soon floated about 3 feet above the ground as it sped down the street.

"What year is this?" asked Sophia again.

"I do not think you would understand. Our current year system is different from when you were born. We are trying to ascertain what year it would be under your system, but it has been a bit of a mystery. We are not sure how much time elapsed between the time you were put into stasis and the time the Zeklins arrived."

"Zeklins?" asked Lucas.

"The Zeklins are current the rulers of Earth. They arrived and found it abandoned. They are unsure whether the human beings of the past fled Earth, or perished under mysterious circumstances. When they arrived, they found hundreds of thousands of us robots. They could tell that we weren't the natural lifeforms of this planet. Most of the robots at that time had been deactivated, but a small group was still online, maintaining the power systems and keeping other automated systems running. Eventually, the some Zeklins settled here on Earth."

As the vehicle left the city, the children saw that there were fewer buildings. There were more trees and other plants. Everything looked relatively normal. There wasn't any huge dust cloud in the sky or destroyed buildings in the landscape. There was nothing that would indicate some type of apocalyptic event had befallen the people of Earth.

"Where are we?" asked Maria. "I mean, what city? Or state?"

"We believe the land masses that existed at the time you were born have shifted significantly. Currently, there are only two land masses on the planet. Right now, we are in the city that is the capital of the smaller land mass. The Zeklins named it Zek Rome, after the capital of Roman Empire in your planet's ancient history. The word Zek means 'new' in the language of the Zeklins."

"How many cities are there in the future?" asked Luca. "I mean, how many now?"

"Only two in the smaller land mass. The entire continent is named Americus. We believe much of the land came from what used to be North America. The second city is called Zek Sparta, named after the city in ancient Greece."

The vehicle eventually reached the outside gates of the Wolf Estate. The gates opened slowly and soon allowed the vehicle to enter. Once the vehicle stopped at the front door, John exited the vehicle and the children followed him. They were immediately brought to the dining hall, where food had already been prepared and was waiting for them.

The children ate as if they hadn't eaten in years. That was technically true. John sat with the children even though he did not require food. He was programmed to sit with the children so that they would feel more comfortable around him. Another servant robot stood nearby.

As the children were eating, John explained to them that their illness had been cured. The children were pleasantly surprised. For some reason, they seemed to have had forgotten about their illness.

Lucas wiped his mouth with a napkin. He hadn't finished his meal yet, but wanted to ask for more information about who brought them out of cryo-stasis.

"You mentioned that the three of us were adopted by the House of Wolf. Do our adoptive parents live here?" asked Lucas.

"No," responded John. "For all intents and purposes, I am your guardian."

"But, we'll meet them soon, right?" asked Sophia.

"I am not sure that you will," said John.

"Why would they adopt us but not want to meet us?" asked Maria.

"Along with several other human children of the other noble Zeklin Houses, you are expected to entertain them with your athletic prowess. There is also talk of perhaps adding a musical performance component if there are enough children with music talent. For the past 17 years, humans have provided athletic entertainment to the Zeklins here on Earth."

"I don't understand, why not Zeklin athletes?" asked Lucas.

"Zeklin bodies are relatively frail compared to humans. This has been especially true since they have depended on their own automated systems to serve their every need. There was an experiment to have robot competitors, but the results were too predictable.

"Nineteen years ago, a few Zeklins were exploring a deep bunker somewhere in the mountains; the mountains near Winterland. They stumbled into some type of medical cryogenic facility that had kept hundreds of patients in deep sleep. The facility had been powered by geothermal energy, and had survived whatever event that wiped out all the humans above ground. The Zeklins were looking through the computers, and must have accidentally triggered a re-animation process. Two young boys were brought back.

"At first, the Zeklins were not sure what to do with the two boys. Some thought that the boys should be returned to their cryo chambers. The Zeklins decided to keep the boys and they were soon treated as a novelty; something unique and interesting to behold.

"The rulers of Rome and the rulers of Sparta each adopted one. As the adopted parents saw their children running around as children do, it dawned on them that the children were quite athletic. Seventeen years ago, Rome and Sparta agreed to the first Olympian Games. The children took part in footraces and throwing contests. Ever since then, events were added to the athletic competitions. This upcoming Olympian Games will be the 10th. The game planners have decided that in addition to the previous events, they are adding a second round composed of team events. Thus far, they are planning to include basketball and volleyball. You children with be participants in these Games, which will take place roughly a year and a half from now."

"And what if we refuse to participate?" asked Sophia.

"But… you must participate. That is the reason you were re-animated," said John.

"So we're… slaves?" wondered Lucas out loud.

"I do not think that is correct," said John. "You have been given life and the comforts of home. All that the House of Wolf expects in return is that you participate in the 10th Olympian Games."

After the three children finished their meals, they discussed their predicament. They felt like they were zoo animals, trapped only for the entertainment of various gawkers. They wished their parents were here to protect them.

Before the children went to bed, John explained to the them that in a little over a week, the children would start school. They would be joining nine other children from four other Zeklin noble houses.

"At school, you will learn about the events of the Olympian Games and will be training for the next year to perform well."

* * *

While she was in bed, Maria thought silently about what John had said. Out of the triplets, although all three of them played sports, Sophia was considered the "athletic one." Lucas was considered the "musical one." Maria didn't have a strong unique trait like the other two. She was a little athletic, so maybe she could be an athletic entertainer. Maria was a little bit of everything.

The thing that made Maria different from her two siblings was that she wasn't as much of a performer. It wasn't that she was shy. Lucas was the "shy" one. But Maria didn't like to perform in front of crowds. She never had plans on being an entertainer when she grew up.

Maria recalled a conversation she had with her father less than a year ago. Or, at least, it was less than a year before she was put into cryo-stasis.

"What's up kiddo?" asked Vincent. He just noticed that Maria had been standing in the doorway of his den while he had been working on his computer.

Maria walked over to Vincent and handed him a drawing. It was pretty good. It was a black and white portrait of her and her father, on an amusement park ride. The family had gone there over the weekend.

"Wow, that's awesome," said Vincent. "I'm gonna put this on my wall at work."

Maria climbed up on her father's lap. She had been thinking about the last time her father told his kids that they should all be entertainers when they grew up. Every other job would be done by robots. He said it at least a few times when she was younger.

"What do you think I should be when I grow up?" asked Maria.

"Well, what do _you_ think you'd want to be?"

"I don't know!" said Maria, teasing.

"Well, when you grow up, you will know."

"But… I know what I don't want to be," said Maria.

"Oh yea?" asked Vincent. "What's that?"

"I don't want to be an athlete, an actress, or a singer. Are you mad?" she asked.

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because… you think we should be one of those things."

Vincent could see that his youngest daughter was nervous.

"Well, if you want to be, then sure. But if you don't want to be, then you shouldn't. I'd never be mad at you for anything Mar," said Vincent. He could see that a weight was just lifted off of her.

"Do you really think robots will be better than people in everything else?" asked Maria.

"Well, maybe," said Vincent. "But who knows? Your mom is ten times smarter than me and she doesn't think so."

Although Maria was only ten, she was astute enough to know that robots or other automated systems were in fact doing many things that humans used to do.

"If robots do everything, and I have nothing to do, do you think I'll be poor?" asked Maria.

Vincent tried his best to reassure her. "Let me tell you a secret kiddo. Your mommy's family is very rich. _Very_ rich. You'll be okay."

Maria's eyes had widened in surprise. She knew her family wasn't poor, but didn't know they were rich either.

"But try your best in school, okay?" said Vincent

"Would you be happy if I became a lawyer when I grew up, dad?" she asked

"I'd be proud of you no matter what you decide to be, kiddo."

Maria smiled and then hopped off of her dad's lap.

* * *

Day 13 of the 19th Year, Era of Re-Awakening

The Triplets arrived at school for their first day. Lucas peeled off to speak with one of the administrators about whether he could switch classes so that he could be with his sisters. His sisters reported to their first classroom.

Sophia and Maria were greeted by their instructor. He appeared young. He was maybe only about 10 years older than his students. They spoke for a half a minute and the instructor pointed to two desks that were assigned to the two girls. The instructor then walked away to greet another pair of twins.

As the two of them walked over to their desks, a boy walked over and gave Maria a light push into one of the desks. Maria wasn't sure what to make of it. It seemed playful enough.

Sophia took immediate offense.

"Say you're sorry," said Sophia to the boy.

"Or what?" asked the boy.

The two of them stood face to face for a few seconds before the boy's identical twin walked over and grabbed his brother away.

"He was just being stupid," said the twin. He nudged his brother to apologize.

"Sorry," said the first twin, half-heartedly.

Sophia decided to let it go.

The second twin tried to make peace.

"I'm Merc," he said. He extended his hand in a friendly gesture.

Sophia decided to return the gesture and shook the boy's hand.

"Sophia," she said.

"A pretty name," Merc said. "Strange. But pretty."

"Strange?" asked Sophia. She had always thought she had a pretty run-of-the-mill name. "And Merc is normal?"

"Oh," he said. "It's short for Mercury."

"And Mercury is normal?"

"I think so," he said.

The teacher interrupted and asked everyone to take their seats. To start off, he asked each student to stand up and introduce him or herself.

A young boy was the first to introduce himself.

"My name is Nick. I represent the Gentle House of Winter," he said.

His twin sister was next. "I am Valentine, also of the Gentle House of Winter," she said.

Merc was next. "I am Mercury, from the Royal House of Rome," he said. He was quite proud of his house, and it showed. "I am named after the Roman God of speed, and I hope to live up to that name."

His brother followed. "I am Hercules, of the Royal House of Rome. I believe you all know who I am named after."

There was a brief silence, as nobody knew who was supposed to go next.

Sophia decided that she would be next.

"My name is Sophia Zeh. I play forward in soccer."

She didn't really know what to say about herself, so she went with what she did for fun. Thinking back, she never asked her parents who she was named after, if anybody.

"Sophia comes to us from the House of Wolf," added the teacher.

The other children seemed curious about that tidbit. The teacher then tilted his head toward Maria.

"My name is Maria. I am Sophia's twin sister and Lucas is our triplet brother. He's in another class right now," she said after standing up. She quickly sat back down.

This caused a small commotion with the other children as well.

"The Wolves have brought in a triple," said Herco in a hushed but excited tone.

The teacher shushed his class and allowed the remaining two children to proceed. They were another set of twin boys. Although they were identical twins, one of them seemed slightly skinnier than the other. The skinnier one was the first to speak.

"My name is Don, my brother and I represent the Noble House of Sparta."

Like Mercury, he was proud of where he came from.

"I am named after Poseidon, the Lord of the Ocean. I plan to win the swimming contests in the first rounds of the next Olympian Bowl."

His twin was the last to speak.

"I am called Z," he said. "I am named after Zeus, the Lord of the Sky. With my brother, we plan on being victorious in the third round; the ultimate battle."

"You wish!" retorted Herco. "Roma vita!"

Sophia and Maria looked at each other. They were not advised there would be a third round. And seemingly some type of battle.

"We were told there would be no more battle round," said Nick, with a more inquisitive tone than a shocked or surprised tone.

Before the teacher could answer, Herco interjected.

"They would never abandon the ultimate battle," he said confidently. "All the games before it are just a joke. The battle is what they want to see."

"Now, now, children," said the teacher. "The games haven't even been decided yet."

"So there might be a battle round?" asked Nick, a little more concerned now.

"Even if there is, I have been told that they will be much less brutal than in the previous games," said the teacher.

Nick and Valentine appeared concerned. Sophia and Maria were a little bit confused. The two sets of twin boys, on the other hand, seemed excited. They were eager to compete.

* * *

On the floor above Sophia and Maria's classroom was a slightly different classroom where Lucas found himself in. Sophia and Maria's classroom was a typical standard room with rows of desks. There were eight students in the first classroom, and there were two rows of four desks each. Lucas found himself in a room surrounded by art supplies and musical instruments. There was one giant table in the middle of the room, and all four students sat there. There were two boys and two girls.

"Good morning, children," said the instructor after his four students sat down.

Lucas wanted to ask his instructor whether he could be allowed to join his sisters. The secretary at the front desk had told him he was not allowed, but he wanted to make another appeal. However, before he could say anything, one of the girls in the class beat him to the punch.

"Why was I separated from my brothers?" she asked. It wasn't so much a question as a demand to be reunited with her brothers.

"Misty, right?" asked the instructor.

"Yes, sir," she replied. Although she was demanding, she knew to give her elders a certain level of respect.

"You may call me Gabriel," said the instructor. "You all may."

"I am also wondering why I was separated from my sisters," said Lucas.

"The class downstairs is only for twins," said Gabriel. "Only the twins will be participating in the second round of the Olympian games."

"You mean the team sports," said Lucas.

"Yes."

"And what are we supposed to be doing during the second round?" asked Lucas.

"The commissioners haven't decided that yet," said Gabriel.

"So maybe we'd still be allowed to play?" asked Lucas.

"It's possible. The games are over a year and a half away. There's plenty of time for them to figure this out. It will be the first games in which there will be team sports."

"I guess combat doesn't count as a sport," said a young boy named Draco.

Gabriel ignored that comment. Lucas wasn't completely sure what to make of it, but presumed that in previous Olympian Games, there was a combat element. What's more, since the boy named Draco seemed to allude to it being a team sport, the combat element must have involved the pairs acting in concert. He worried about his sisters.

"While the boys and girls downstairs are learning the basic rules of the various potential team sports they may be called upon to play, we're here to assess your musical abilities," explained Gabriel.

It turned out that none of the other three children had any musical abilities.

"My sister and I were told that we'd be participating in the team sports," said Draco. His sister, Mia, was one year older than him. They were not twins.

"That may still be the case," said Gabriel. "Like I said, the commissioners are deciding. In fact, I guess they might even pair Lucas and Misty together as a final team."

"They wouldn't pair members of two different houses, would they?" asked Misty. Part of her was disgusted at the thought, but another part was intrigued.

"I'm not sure," admitted Gabriel.

"My sisters can play the piano too," said Lucas. He was trying to steer his sisters out of the team sports round, in the event it involved combat. However, he was hoping that it wouldn't be discovered that his sisters had quit their music lessons when they were six while Lucas had continued on with the piano and the guitar.

"We'll talk about that later," said Gabriel. "But your sisters are definitely participating in round two of the Olympian Games."

Lucas looked a little dismayed.

"Relax," said Gabriel. He tried to comfort him. "There will be no battles in round two."

"But… you just said you didn't know," said Lucas.


End file.
